How to Relocate Safely During COVID-19
- Author: Jeffrey Simmons
- Posted: 2024-01-21
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has impacted virtually every aspect of human life today. The spiraling effects of this pandemic are gradually creeping into the housing sector. With the government and stakeholders in the health sector recommending lockdown and minimization of unnecessary movement, it may be quite a challenge to shift houses without exposing yourself to the risk of getting infected with COVID-19. At the same time, the shifting housing market dynamics may generally favor you to move from your current house to a much cheaper one. Shifting houses during this pandemic may have you consider a whole new kind of precautions and strategies to ensure that you do not get exposed to the scary disease.
Do a thorough analysis
Before actually moving houses, you may have to consider evaluating the entire process from start to finish. This evaluation will have you get a comprehensive picture of what your moving will entail. Putting down a list of what you need to do ensures that you pinpoint particular activities that expose you to the increased risk of getting infected. For instance, you may notice that key activities during house shifting include finding a new house, packaging your items, hiring a house moving service provider, the actual shifting, unpackaging and arranging your items in the new house. This ensures that you remain aware and thus steer clear of any infection risks.
Minimizing physical contact
As recommended by health professionals, maintaining social distancing and preventing physical contact will generally increase your chances of staying safe. With the hive of activity associated with shifting houses, it may be quite challenging to maintain your social distance. One way of achieving this is by minimizing any points of contact with other people as much as possible. Thus, it is vital to consider doing all your paperwork online and paying for services using your credit card rather than physical money. Also, instead of visiting the service providers in their offices in person, you may want to schedule a virtual meeting or a phone call.
Do it yourself
Minimizing the risk of infection should be your utmost priority during this pandemic period. If you can manage to do all the house shifting activities by yourself, then you stand a better chance of being safer. With proper planning, the do-it-yourself approach would be the best idea as it exposes you to as minimal contact with other persons as possible. Borrowing a hand from your trusted circle of friends and family members could help with those tough and demanding tasks, such as packaging your household items.
Follow the recommended safety measures
Whereas doing it by yourself may be an option when you have lesser logistics to worry about, you may find yourself having to hire professional moving services. When leasing those services, you should prioritize your safety by ensuring that the service provider adheres to all the safety recommendations put in place. This includes minimizing the number of movers who come to your house. You should also ensure that the movers use the required personal protective equipment, including gloves and masks. Maintaining your social distance with them during the entire moving process helps protect yourself from any infection.
Remember to disinfect
One of the key precautionary measures of preventing coronavirus disease transmission is sanitizing and disinfecting your hands and surfaces. In the process of packing and moving your items, especially when you have other people helping you, the chances of surface contamination are quite high. After unpacking your items in the new house, you should embark on disinfecting your household items using an appropriate sanitization method.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus remains active on commonly used and touched surfaces, such as cupboards, tables, utensils, electronics and door handles for up to 72 hours. Surface disinfection is the only way to eliminate any contamination before settling in your new house. In addition, before actually moving into the house, you may want to invest some time doing a thorough cleaning and disinfection as a safety precaution.
Get tested a few days after settling
After shifting houses and settling down, it is highly recommendable to consider getting yourself tested for COVID-19. Whereas the self-protection measures that you apply when shifting houses can reduce your chances of getting infected, the entire house-shifting process is somewhat risky. Taking a COVID-19 test a week after shifting and settling down is the surest way to ensure that any infection fears are downplayed. It also helps to protect your family from the unnecessary risk involved.
